Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. is preparing to split into two entities, and the company's fiscal third-quarter financials illustrated why: Its cable television and film properties continue to flex their muscles while the publishing unit's profit exhibited atrophy.

For the quarter ended March 31, News Corp. earned $2.85 billion, or $1.22 a share, compared with $937 million, or 38 cents a share, in the year earlier period.

Cable television generated $2.8 billion in revenue and $993 million in operating income, an increase of 17% over the year earlier period.

Broadcast television, which suffered through a bruising three months due to steep declines in "American Idol" ratings, was boosted by fees charged distributors to retransmit the Fox Broadcasting signal.

Broadcast television contributed $1.23 billion in revenue, an increase of 1.4% and operating income of $196 million, an increase of 14.6%.

Filmed entertainment, the company's second-largest unit, generated 17% higher revenue, rising to $2 billion. The division posted $289 million in operating income, an increase of 6.3%. The company benefited from the home entertainment releases of "Life of Pi," "Taken 2" and "Ice Age: Continental Drift."

But the publishing business, which includes the Wall Street Journal and HarperCollins book publishing, saw revenue fall 4.2% to $1.9 billion. Operating income plummeted nearly 35% to $85 million.

While British newspapers brought in more revenue, helped by the Sunday edition of the Sun, the ailing Australian economy crimped profits from down under.

News Corp. spent another $42 million in costs related to the ongoing legal troubles in the U.K. due to the phone hacking scandal at its now-shuttered News of the World tabloid.

Meanwhile, restive shareholders renewed calls on Wednesday for a diminishment of Murdoch's role at the company.

Longtime critics of News Corp., the Christian Bros. Investment Services and the British Columbia Investment Management Corp. in Canada, said they had lodged a joint shareholder proposal calling for an independent chairman, rather than the 82-year-old Murdoch, to oversee News Corp.'s board.

The Nathan Cummings Foundation also urged the elimination of the company's dual-class stock structure, which allows Murdoch to control the company through his holdings of 38% of the vote shares. The family's voice is unduly disproportionate, the foundation said, noting that Murdoch and his family's economic interest in News Corp. is a much smaller 14%.